EW! A Blog.

Hopalong Cassidy needs a new leg and local rescue group Save the Pets is raising money for the pup's surgery.

According to the video information on YouTube, "A woman who lives in Silverton found Cassidy dodging traffic on Interstate5! She put him on Craigslist and a man in Albany took Cassidy to foster him so that he wouldn't go to the pound. Cassidy's femur is broken in 2 places. He needs to see a specialist and then get surgery. we need to raise donations so that we can pay for this."

Money can be donated for the surgery through the Youcaring.com fundraising site. About $4,ooo needs to be raised, and the site has raised almost $700 so far.

Two city councilors have informed us that Councilor George Brown, who initially supported the city fee measure that will appear on the May 21 ballot, has changed his position and will now oppose the measure. Brown told EW earlier this week that he was considering changing his mind, but he needed more time to weigh both arguments.

To EW's knowledge, Councilor Greg Evans has not yet taken a public position; we sent an email inquiry today to confirm this and will update this post when we hear back. Brown has not yet responded to messages left at his home and business.

[Update: 8:50 pm April 5]: Evans responded that he opposes the fee proposal because he is not satisfied with the options presented by the staff to close the budget shortfall. He voted to place the issue on the ballot so that citizens could decide whether they wish to pay the fee, and he doesn't believe it will pass.

McGowan's wife Jenny Synan "told HuffPost that she asked a BOP official why her husband had been re-imprisoned after his release to a halfway house in December. She said the official told her that the HuffPost article violated a term of his release that restricted him from interacting with the media."

McGowan was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison for participating in ecologically motivated arsons in Oregon as part of what the FBI called Operation Backfire, which involved property destruction across the Northwest. No one was injured in any of the actions, but McGowan and others were given terrorism enhancements on their sentences.

In late August 2008 he was transferred from FCI-Sandstone, a low security prison in Minnesota, to the CMU at USP-Marion, which was created to monitor so-called terrorist prisoners. McGowan had issued updates from prison speaking out on environmental issues, appeared on a calendar featuring political prisoners and was the subject of a then in-progress documentary film. If a Tree Falls went on to garner an Oscar nomination.

The units are designed to isolate prisoners from the rest of the prisoner population, and more importantly, from the rest of the world. They impose strict limitations on your phone calls home and visits from family and friends -- you have far less access to calls and visits than in general population. The communications restrictions at the CMUs are, in some respects, harsher than those at ADX, the notorious federal "Supermax" prisonin Colorado. Also, unlike ADX, they are not based on a prisoners' disciplinary violations. When my wife and loved ones visited me at the CMUs, we were banned from any physical contact whatsoever. All interactions where conducted over a telephone, with Plexiglas and bars between us. Until they were threatened with legal action, CMU prisoners were only allowed one single 15-minute phone call per week.

Daniel McGowan is back in BOP custody. He was taken by federal marshals from his halfway house this morning, and brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center. We have received information that this was triggered by an opinion piece he published on the Huffington Post Monday, and we are currently trying to confirm this and learn more about the situation. We were unable to meet with him today because, we were informed, he was being processed. We will seek to meet with him tomorrow and follow all avenues to secure his release. The name of the piece is “Court Documents Prove I Was Sent to Communication Management Units (CMU) for My Political Speech.” If this is indeed a case of retaliation for writing an article about the BOP retaliating against his free speech while he was in prison, it is more than ironic, it is an outrage.

McGowan is part of the lawsuit Aref v. Holder, which challenges the violation of CMU prisoners’constitutional rights, such as the right to due process. The case argues that transfers to a CMU" are not based on facts or discipline for infractions, a pattern of religious and political discrimination and retaliation for prisoners’ lawful advocacy has emerged." The CCR says that "recently amended the complaint to include claims of retaliation for First Amendment protected speech."

Romance pants are a pair of pants that dims the room lighting and raises the stereo in relation to the fly zipper being pulled down. Of course it does not stop there. The romantic coup de grace involves electronically ignited candles triggered by the unbuttoning of the waist button. This subtle sensual assault is sure to shock and awe any prospective partner into ecstatic submission. As the evening progresses, this smarty-pants technology will undoubtedly to set the mood to the appropriate level of 'getting it on.' Romance pants are definitely where the future lay.

Alright, alright. So The Barn Light is a little behind in "What's Hot" in meme world with its lightning fast turn-over (one week it's cats, the next week it's kittens, the next week it's kitty-cats getting rick-rolled) but this is a pretty hilarious local take on the Harlem Shake. And remember. Wait. For. It.

The three-day festival is July 12 thru 14, west of Eugene, Ore. near Veneta. The online pre-sale tickets will be available on a limited basis through Sunday, April 14. The Fair will again offer on-line pre-sale buyers appreciation gifts with qualifying purchases.

This year’s fair will feature 17 stages of entertainment, more than 80 food booths and nearly 350 craft booths featuring more than 700 vendors. Vaudeville, circus acts, spoken word, wandering musicians, face painting, parades and many other fair favorites will return this year. Fairgoers are sure to find fun and surprises around every bend in the path.

The early list of confirmed entertainers on the Main Stage this year includes Carolyn Wonderland, Black Prairie, The Motet, Rootz Underground, Jambay and the return of acts like the Shook Twins and Papadosio. Dozens of additional entertainers will be announced in the weeks ahead for one of the West’s premier summer entertainment events.

Starting Monday, April 15th Oregon Country Fair tickets will be on sale at TicketsWest outlets, by phone at (800) 992-8499 or online.

No tickets will be sold at the fair site. Fairgoers are encouraged to ride to the fair aboard the complimentary LTD bus service provided by the OCF. Will call is at the fair site only. For information on riding the bus to the fair, visit the transportation page of the OCF website.

If bought in advance, ticket prices are $22 for Friday, July 12; $24 for Saturday, July 13; and $22 for Sunday, July 14. Tickets purchased the days of the event are $24 for Friday, $28 for Saturday and $24 for Sunday. Prices do not include TicketsWest service fees. A ticket good for all three days of the fair may also be purchased for $57 in advance only. Children ages 10 and under are admitted free with a paying adult and there is a $5 discount for individuals who are alter-abled or ages 65 or older.

TicketsWest outlets are located at numerous Safeway stores throughout Oregon and southwest Washington. For a complete list, click here. In addition to TicketsWest outlets, Oregon Country Fair tickets will also be available at other locations to be announced soon.

Parking at the Oregon Country Fair is $8 per vehicle per day in advance, $10 per vehicle per day on-site. Parking passes may be purchased with admission tickets or at the fair site the day of the fair, but fairgoers must show an admission ticket drive onto the site. ###

Not too long ago, a friend and I had a conversation about how much the societal conflict between the religion he holds dear and the fact that he's gay made him feel like crap for a long time. He said that feeling like he had to choose between two parts of himself that felt equally true was one of the darkest times he's ever had. His happy ending to that conflict, luckily, was meeting a wonderful man who was already connected to a community that embraced them both.

If you're so inclined, please share these links so that anyone who happens to be gay and struggling with something similar might have that struggle cut shorter.

Please add additional links in the comments if you know of them -- I'm certain that there's more out there. I don't know a lot more than the Cliffs Notes versions of most religions (and Google was none too helpful, just telling me that Buddhism is generally nice to gay folks), but there are awesome people of all kinds, right?

A drunk girl is passed out on the couch and young man aks, "Guess what I’m gonna do to her?”

Stendal told KGW news that she was angry about the rape case's news coverage, which has been more sympathetic to the rapists than the victim, "“I wanted to make something that was more positive than what was being shown. We should be treating each other as human beings not blaming victims.”